Meet GlenOak High School alum, rugby coach Austin Campbell
CANTON, Ohio — I am proud to introduce to you fellow 2016 Alumni of GlenOak High School, as Coach Austin Campbell. Coach Campbell serves as Director of Rugby Operations and Head Coach of Plain Local Youth Rugby, and is bringing to our township the Middle School Rugby program for its first year!
Austin Campbell was first introduced to rugby in 2011, playing throughout all 4 years in high school for Canton Youth Rugby, while also balancing a position on the GlenOak football team and a tuba in the GlenOak marching band. He carried on playing rugby throughout college, and now has 12 years of experience in the sport, and has been a Match Official (Referee) since 2017. These years allowed him to develop not only his skills and knowledge within the sport, but his mindset to be the best coach that he can be for our future athletes. “My experience with other teams has taught me that winning and losing are part of competing and that players need to learn from losses as much as victory to improve. I see my role as coach to encourage and challenge them to get better,” and seeing that improvement and development in his athletes is what encourages him to do his best for the team in return.
Coach Campbell is excited to build a team for Oakwood Middle School and to bring more exposure to the sport within our community. As Head Coach of this first-year program, “we’re going to focus on fundamentals, learning and enjoying the game, and exposing players to future opportunities in rugby.” While learning the fundamentals of the game is well, fundamental, Coach Campbell will not be stopping there. There are many lessons to be derived from sports, as both coach and as an athlete. He hopes to inspire his players to be the “B.E.S.T (Be the Example, Set the Tempo) in everything they do.”
There is no doubt that the first game will be the most memorable for our new coach.
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